January 19, 2008 - A Classic Rocking Show

The Brickhouse in Fernie saw BBT take the stage once again. With an excellent poster advertising the show, the room was packed as the band took to the stage at bout 9:00 PM. This was a traditional 'black shirt' rock show. From the opening tune to the encore the band keep the water boiling all night long.

This show was a foursome, with Andrew sidelined with a broken hand. BBT brought Erin to the stage to sing some backing vocals on the pieces from the developing rock opera, and her voice added a lot to the flavour of the songs.

Once again the music was tight - with one or two unique on-stage modifications to songs (some might say 'fuck-ups', I like to say otherwise), and one terribly rude drunken fool coming into the bar with a foghorn who attempted to interrupt a song. Well, after being chase out of the bar, things got back to a boil right away.

A very good night was had by all.

Next show: February 19th, 2008 @ 'The Royal' in Fernie BC

New Years Eve 2007

Well, BBT ended the amazingly successful 2007 year at 'The Brickhouse' in Fernie BC. The band set up quite a show with new videos (and equipment), streamers, confetti, and costumes.

The band took the stage at about 10 PM dressed up as superheros (Captain America), legends (Thor), and seasonal favourites (Santa, well Evil Santa). Opening with some laid-back new tunes (as per the request of the booking) the band quickly found out that the audience - out for new years, not to see BBT - wanted to 'rock'. So, out with the set list and into the rock show.

Things remained oddly quiet until midnight when everyone got up, 'shared tongues', and danced until closing time. The show went well, all things considered - the band was 'tight', and the sound quality was good.

Wee Fest - November 7th 2007

Well, Big Bubba Tres spent a lot of time preparing for this show. Bubba Cook wrote all new songs - with a theme. Yes, Zombies were the focus of this "over the top" show. Titles included 'Zombies Must Die' (nothing but keyboards and pounding drums), 'Zombies on a Chain', 'Zombies in the Snow' (not a new tune, but significantly re-formatted), and others.

The show was also different in that BBT did not use a drummer (ok, Mike did pound on a bass drum for one song - with two big plastic mallets), and there were no guitars in the set. Keyboards, electronic beats, bass, horns, and ukuleles made up the wall of sound. This set showed the continued evolution of the sound, as the audience heard sounds come and go as the songs moved from verse to chorus. More and more of Big Bubba's work includes the layering of instruments to support the vocals, instead of competing with them.

The group took the stage following in the path of 6 foot white rabbits, aliens, and Satan himself. Then, with a 6 foot rear-view projection screen dominating the stage, smoke filling the hall, and confetti and streamers exploding into the audience (of course, the requisite balloons were bouncing around too) the band rocked into their set. Lasers (green and red) filled in for the highlights and added immeasurably to the 'cool factor' of the whole experience.

Lets not forget that everyone in the audience was wearing their viking hat - this year's take home souvenir of the show.

Forty minutes later everyone was finished. Finished until David P. Smith and Dad's Juice took the stage for an amazing 90 minute show.

BBT spent the time since September preparing for this, writing, creating, practicing, inventing, and it seemed to pay off, as the audience was very appreciative of their efforts.

I for one can't wait for the next show.....

Taste of Fernie 2007 version

The 2007 version of the ‘Taste Fernie' went off as planned on September 15th. In reality, the show really began months before when Troy and the band began discussing the show – effects, songs, and so on. The summer season of playing and touring seems to have come to a successful end with ‘the taste’ show being the closing show of the season.

‘The taste’ was a full on visual treat for the crowd. Jim the lighting guy brought LED flood and spotlights, lasers, and some flashing mirror effects as well as a huge rear projection screen for the various videos Troy had created for the show. Two smoke machines, confetti and many confetti bombs rounded out the visual cornucopia of thrills.

Stage set-up began about 8:15 and the sound check was underway about 8:50. The sound guy had serious problems getting sound onto the stage monitors so the show didn’t start until 9:15 or even later. As a result, the band shortened up the set so that the ‘B Movies’ could begin their show on time.

As the video of toy soldiers began to a classical piece of music, the band went out wearing flashing glasses carrying 6’ balloons. After tossing the balloons into the crowd they took the stage and jumped into ‘3 – Eyed Farm Boy’ while the confetti machine ran at full tilt.

‘Zombies in the Snow’ came next, followed by ‘Sea Monkey Drug Binge’ with lasers and smoke. ‘George Forman Grill’ rocked with Mike on keyboards. ‘Mud Bound in the Prairies’ was followed by ‘Viva Las Vegas’ with smoke and lasers. It was great. ‘Utopia’ and ‘War Pigs’ rounded out the show.

The B-Movies played a hot set, and they were well worht listening too.

Fernie Fest is coming

Rumour has it that the band will be on stage at 9 pm - with an updated set list, videos, lights, and aliens. Should be a great show. I have heard that they'll be using new tempos, new intros, and new instruments....

Don't miss it.

Arts on the Edge - Kimberely

BBT was one of three bands who performed on the main stage at this festival. It was the first year for the venue, and there were some issues - the stage was over home plate of a ball diamond, and the crowd was miles away in the outfield. Troy kept referring to being in a crop circle.

Two small generators supplied almost enough power to run the gear, however the band and the crowd survived the brown outs and power outages.

The audience loved the show, and Troy was great with the audience - including the children who picked up all of the confetti that he shot into the air.

I hope they play this show again. they got great reviews and they generated a lot of interest from up the valley.

The Summer Tour

Well, this little road trip took off like a rocket, and it landed as successful as the best of them. A headline show at Logan’s Pub in Victoria followed by a solo show by Bubba at a singer-songwriters evening in Mill Bay, then another headliner at ‘The Main’ in Vancouver and a final show as a warm-up act for ‘the Buttless Chaps’ at the Railway Club in Vancouver.

The band loaded up the ‘meat wagon’ (the ambulance) the night before and they hit the road early in the morning. They were well prepared for this trip, having spent a lot of time honing their ‘power set’ for these shows. Troy knew that the purpose of this trip was exposure, not income, and so they focused on what was needed to get their name recognized as a band to watch for in the future. Three-eyed Farm Boy, Utopia, Mudbound In The Prairie, George Foreman Grill, Sea Monkey Drug Binge, Squirrelly Monkey, Zeppelin’s a Balloon, War Pigs (the encore song, sort of), and other original tunes were practiced and refined beforehand.

The first gig of the tour was at The Main, a pub in Victoria. They shared the stage with two other bands – David P. Smith opened up the night (and hosted the whole show) with his unique blend of lyrics and accordion sounds, Stitchripper played hard driving country rock and warmed up the dance floor, then BBT closed the show with a nearly perfect set. They had the medium-sized crowd cheering and dancing up a storm. A great night was had by everyone.

Troy traveled up to Mill Bay (Steve drove so Troy could stay after the show and catch up with old friends) so he could be part of a Singer-Songwriters show. The venue for this show was amazing. The host had built a loft-like building in his back yard – with a number of other out buildings as well (all out of found lumber too) and he regularly hosted these shows. There must have been 60 people who showed up from the town – and all by word-of-mouth advertising too! It was a really fun evening.

‘The Main’. A small restaurant/bar, it is fairly well known in the music scene – and it is well known for its high quality Greek food too. They had to wait until the two tables on the stage were empty before they could set up – which happened about 9 PM. The stage was very small – we were as close together as you could imagine. Add to that, it was hot and humid, so their instruments kept going out of tune.

Having said that, the place remained packed, as people showed up specifically to hear them play. And play they did – another bang-on performance was done by the, with Troy doing a great job of interacting with the crowd.

The last show – the big show of the trip - was at the ‘The Railway Club’.

The show went really well. BBT went on first and their set was fast – Troy was nervous and everything was ‘double speed’ – and the crowed loved it. By the end of the show they were standing at the stage and taking photos.

The Great Outdoors and the Buttless Chaps both put on great shows.

All in all a great trip.

Check out the article in 'Fernie Fix' on the tour:

http://www.ferniefix.com/september-07-issue-10#attachments